Nature

Broomall’s Run winds through Glen Providence Park – starting at the Broomall’s Dam waterfall, past a pond, and through a steep valley leading to Ridley Creek. The park was dedicated as a Bird Sanctuary and Arboretum in 1935, and continues to serve that purpose today. The stream, wetlands, pond, and the surrounding wooded hillsides provide vital habitat and refuge for an array of wildlife and native plants.

You can see photographs of many of those species in our seasonal photo journal, and in our facebook albums of plants, fungi, and wildlife. Our Park Bird List is up to 127 bird species, and our Park Tree List is up to 58 species. We continue to gather information about all of the plants and wildlife in Glen Providence Park through citizen science projects and regular nature walks, and we started species profiles about some interesting plants and animals we’ve found.

Citizen Science Projects:

• 2012 – Birding Big Year– we spotted 83 bird species in one year!
• 2013 – 1.1 Acre Project – documented the plants and wildlife in the 1.1 acre construction area for the new Broomall’s Dam at 3rd Street
• 2014 – PA Amphibian & Reptile Survey – resulting in a park species photo gallery & list!
• 2015 – Tree Mapping – a group of volunteers is helping us continue to document the park’s many trees on PhillyTreeMap

Natural History

There are descriptions of the flora and fauna in the park from 1889, when the land was called Scroggie Valley, from the 1930’s when the park was created, and we even found early 1900’s microscope slides of microorganisms from the stream! We entered bird sightings from as early as 1905 on eBird, and early plant and wildlife species lists guide us in what to look for today. We were delighted to have the American Chestnut Foundation confirm our discovery of two American Chestnut trees in Glen Providence Park. And you can take a self-guided walk through the park using the 1941 Nature Guide we discovered – many of the trees and plants it describes are still there!

You can explore the Categories and Tags on the right to learn much more about the park, and you can also search our over 200 articles.